No economic reports today, so rates will take their cues from the stock market. Higher stock prices will tend to drag mortgage interest rates a little higher while falling stock prices will likely support steady to perhaps fractionally lower rates.

Looking ahead to next week -- the nation's central bankers will gather in Washington on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss monetary policy strategy for the coming six weeks. Most observers believe the members of the Federal Open Market Committee will vote to leave their short-term benchmark interest rates unchanged. There is also broad agreement among Fed watchers that Mr. Bernanke and his fellow policymakers will choose to make little, if any significant change to their views, expressed in the committee's traditional post-meeting statement, that a fragile economic recovery is currently underway. If this assessment proves accurate, look for the Fed meeting to prove to be a non-event in terms of its influence on mortgage interest rates.